By Guest AuthorPosted February 12, 2020
Fire has shaped the development of Virginia’s forests and wildlands for thousands of years. In fact, the existence of many natural communities is closely tied to fire. Before the arrival of humans, natural fires ignited by flashes of lightning played a major role in shaping southeastern landscapes. For thousands of millennia, lightning-ignited fires functioned as one of the primary factors that drove natural selection, forcing plant communities to adapt or perish.
About 18,000 years ago, as North American ice sheets began to retreat, forests of white spruce and jack pine in Virginia were replaced by more temperate species encroaching from the south and the west. Over time, oak and hickory began to dominate Virginia’s woodlands, along with species like shortleaf pine, and fires became essential to forest health. In these forests, periodic, post-glacial lightning-ignited fires occurred approximately every three to 15 years, facilitating nutrient cycling, catalyzing seed germination and creating a diverse set of habitats for wildlife.
Early humans in Virginia recognized the importance of fire as a tool for modifying their environment. Burning was used to clear underbrush, to create grassland habitat for highly sought food species like white-tailed deer and wild turkey, and in some cultures, to clear land for agriculture.
Before the arrival of Europeans, Virginia’s landscapes were shaped by natural lightning fires and Native American burning techniques. Woodlands of oak, hickory and pine interspersed variably sized grasslands. Large ungulates like elk and bison still roamed the region. According to accounts from early explorers, vast expanses of savanna extended from the Shenandoah Valley into the Piedmont.
When the first Europeans arrived at Virginia’s Jamestown Colony in 1607, their perceptions of North America were shaped by a myth that the continent was still wild and untouched, a landscape of pristine, primeval forest. And, at the beginning of the 17th century, most of Virginia was covered by forest. But, observations made by early settlers and explorers suggest that woodlands were already being managed with fire by coastal Powhatans and other Native American peoples.
A prescribed burn at Zuni Pine Barrens in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.
According to the accounts of early Europeans, forests were clear of woody debris and undergrowth, allowing for easier travel. Elevated ridgelines were often free of vegetation, providing expansive panoramas of the region. In open areas, the flowering edge-habitat fringing fire-forged meadows lured a variety of wildlife, providing fodder for area hunters.
However, over the last hundred years, as human populations continued to grow, perceptions began to shift, and fire was increasingly viewed as a destructive force — a threat to property and public safety. The mention of a fire in a forest typically conjured up images of a devastating inferno. State and federal agencies worked to prevent and suppress wildfires with some success, with one result being that forest species composition and structure started to change.
Grasslands and open areas disappeared, and forest understories became dense, limiting regeneration of oaks and pines. Fire-intolerant species like maple, beech and holly replaced oak-pine woodlands. Wildlife was impacted, too, as critical habitat and food sources like acorns, blueberries and huckleberries declined, as more shade-tolerant species began to dominate eastern forests.
In more recent decades, the role of fire as an ecological tool has been re-evaluated. Unlike high-intensity wildfires, which can decimate native trees and incinerate organic matter in the soil, prescribed burns can be controlled to regulate factors like location and intensity, ultimately bringing a wide array of ecological benefits for forest ecosystems and native wildlife. Prescribed burns also help prevent dangerous and damaging wildfires by safely reducing fuel loads. In the southern portion of the United States, the use of prescribed fire was reintroduced during the 1970s and 80s and is now used by resource managers for a wide variety of objectives.
Today, prescribed fire is used in Virginia to beneficially manage natural areas and state parks to maintain species diversity. Land managers, including those at the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, use targeted burns to perpetuate fire-dependent natural communities and to maintain ecological diversity, preserving early-successional varieties of vegetation like grasslands and glades, essential for some native species like northern bobwhite.
Crews that conduct prescribed burns receive specialized training and are certified to do the work.
Prescribed burns have a wide range of benefits. Fire stimulates seed germination and encourages the regrowth of vegetation, offering a multitude of benefits for wildlife. Species like rabbits and songbirds have fruits and seeds to consume, and white-tailed deer have easily accessible vegetation to graze in the forest understory.
Fire-adapted plant communities are maintained by burning and fires allow some rare plants to persist. Some declining forest types, including longleaf pine, pitch pine and Table Mountain pine, are heavily reliant on fire and would not exist without periodic burns. Throughout Virginia, more than 100 different rare plants benefit from the use of prescribed fire, including the native Peter’s Mountain Mallow, a globally rare perennial found only in Giles County.
Whether occurring naturally or set intentionally, wildland fire has long been a critical part of Virginia’s natural history. Today, through the use of prescribed burns, fire still helps keep native forests healthy, sustains critical habitat for wildlife and helps to preserve the state’s rich natural heritage.
Categories
Conservation | Natural Heritage
Tags
ecosystem | natural area preserves | prescribed burns | state parks